Chair



Aug. 5, 1958 H. o. EADS EIAL CHAIR 4 Sheets-Sheet I 1 Filed April 11,1957 HaHoZd 0.Eads,

1958 H. o. EADS ET AL 2,845,993

CHAIR 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 11, 1957 I wezzfoas Hafloid 0. Fads,floiaibuB.ExZi82e, by 5M M I 1953 H. o. EADs ETAL 2,845,993

CHAIR Filed April 11, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 12219422243212.- Hafloid0.52102, dawn B. Emiieae United States Patent" CHAIR Ha l'0lti ';Q,.Earls, Vienna, W. Va., and Ashton B .1Exline,

Belpre, Ohio, assignors to McDonough C0., doing business under the nameand style 0. Ames Co., Parker'sburg, W. Va., a corporation of Delaware-Application April 11, 1957, Serial No..652,212

8 Claims. (Cl. 155-148) This invention relates to chairs and the objectis to provide a chair having relatively'movable parts with suitablelocking means the release of which permits the structure to becompressed into a smaller volume for thekpurpose of. storage. Theconstruction embodying the invention is; simple and strong and readilymanipulated both .to collapse the chair and to bring it again to theerected position.

Many folding chairs are known which may be folded into a relatively fiatpackage. However, they are somewhat inconvenient to position forunfolding again, and the manipulations required are not always easy.Moreoyer, in the household the only convenient way to put the foldedchair to one side is to lean it against a wall, and at. unexpect ed;times it usually slides down and falls org ,thefloor with a. crash.Thepreferred embodiment of the; invention as herein disclosed, on thecontrary, while compressed fqre-and-aft to a relatively small dimensiongremains self-supporting and stable. It can be pus .d.. 19 g. e.floor ut. f h y, iaw to Fig. 4 is a perspective view of thechairin. itscol ap ed rm;

Fig,- 5 is.-a.section .in a vertical fore-and-aft vplane through, the-seat;

Fig.6,is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5 andllafflyzbrokenaway,showing the bottom .ofthe. seat;

Fig. 7 is.- a fragmentary section on the line 7-7 of: Fig. 5; and

Fig.= 8 is a diagram.

Referring now to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the chair there-shown comprisesa seat 10 having a pair of front legs 12 and apair of rear legs 121-,preferably widely fiaring, as shown. In the case of a high chair thefront legs may support a foot rest 14. The chair. has a back 16 and arms18 extending from the, back in planes lateral tothe. sideedgesof theseat, which arms may removably support a tray .20. The supporting meansfor thefoot' rest. and the tray are not illustrated in detail as theymay be-v-of known constructionand constitute no part attire-presentinvention. Arm supports 22 extend between the forward ends; of the arms,and. the sides ofthe seat and are herein pivoted at centers 24 and-26.(see Fig;v ,6). respectively.

As perhaps-.best-seen in Fig. 5; the. seat is in the natureQfgandnvertedtopen box having, a top wall and-dependingmarginals'flanges 28.-and:-the upper ends of-the legs:

wallor into acorner, and simply drawn out again and.

2,845,993 Patented Aug, 5, 1958 ice enter the space between theseflanges and engage the lower surface of the .top wall to support theseat.

The front legs 12 are stationary and rigid with the seat. It isconvenientand desirable to form them as a single unitary structureand,'as seen in Fig. 6, they may be bent from a suitable length oftubing to. form a yoke having a central crossbar 30 and sides 32coplanar therewith, which underride thebottom, and the end portion ofthe tubing then bent angularly to that plane to form the flaring legsproper. 12 The crossbar 30 and.v the proximal portions 32 of the sidesengage the top wall of the seat throughout a large area and provide afirm support for the legs. They may be secured by mechanical fasteners34 as seen in Figs. 5 and 6.

The rear legs, may be formed of tubingbent to a form identical withthat, of the front legs and symmetrically disposed with relation theretoadjacent to the bottom of the seat. They are not however fixed in POSietion and the crossbar 30r of the rear legs is journalled in clips 36which may be secured bycertain of the fasten: ers 34 forming the frontlegs as seen in Figs. 5 and 6. When the chair is standingin the erectedposition. the crossbar and the proximal coplanar portions 321 of therear legs underride the. top of the seat and support. the same in thesame manner as thecorresponding members of the front legs. Means. areprovided for locking them in position, as will be described.

It is convenient to note at this point however thatif the rear legs turnin their journal bearing, since the distance between the crossbar .30rand the ends, of the legs (corresponding substantially to the hypotenuseof a triangle) is greater than the distance from'the bend where theproximal portions 30r merge into ,thelegs, proper to the ends of thelegs, the. effect will be-either. to push downwardly the ends of thelegs or, ifthey are, resting on the floor, to raise the pivotalpoint ofthey crossbar 30r. The significance of this, will later appear.;

To permit relative folding andunfoldingm'ovement between the seat 10,back 16, arms;.18 (with tray 20). and the arm supports 22, they arerelatedin the. mannerof a four-bar linkage which is locked againstdistortionin the erected position of the chair, butcapable .of alimeited range of movement when released. The pivotal, mounting of supports22 on the arms, (at,24) and on the. sides of the seat (at 26, see Fig.6) have already been. described.

The arms 18 preferably constitute the sides of ayoke of tubing having acrossbar 38 extending across the rearof the back and journalled in astrap 40 secured thereto. The back is provided with a stem-likeextension42,. the lower end of which extendsinwardly and acrossthe rear verticalwall 28 of theseat and is provided with. knuckles 44 which cooperatewith knuckles 46 on a leaf 48 secured to the inner surface of that walland a pintle 50 passes through the knuckles to form a hinge.

The parts are thus connected by a linkage the operation of which willperhaps be clearer from the simplified diagram (Fig. 8) wherein thenumerals havethe addedletter a! to indicate that they diagramcorresponding parts of the other figures, butydo not pictorially rep--resent them or their exact relationship. Itwill be seen that there is afour-bar linkage with a fixed bar represented by the seat 10d, twolevers 22d and 16d swing-' ing on centers 26d and 50d respectively, andaconnect?) ing rod 18d between the centers 24d and 40d. The pro-;

with, oscillation. of

Herein the arm supports 22 are also the sides of a yoke which, below thepivots or trunnions 26, are bent rearwardly and joined by a crossbar 52extending transversely beneath the seat. In the erected position of theparts the crossbar bears against the rear legs 1211 and enters thedownwardly opening throats of hooks 54, projecting from the forwardlyfacing sides of the rear legs.

To look the parts in the erected position this crossbar 52 ofthe armsupport yoke is locked to the back 16. Herein (see Fig. 7) the knuckles44 and 46 provide a space between them and on the pintle 50 in thisspace is swung a two-armed latch 56 (Figs. 6 and 7) one arm of which hasa nose portion 58 adapted to enter a slot 60 in the wall of the crossbar52 which provides a keeper. The latch is pressed toward engagingposition by a spring 62 between the other arm 64 and the opposed portionof the stem 42, the spring being mounted on a rivet or like headed rod66 extending loosely through these parts. This arm 64 of the latch 56also provides a finger piece which, when pressed upwardly, releases thenose 58 from the'slot. After a slight downward movement of the crossbarthe latch will not reengage on release of the finger piece. However, inerecting the parts, when the crossbar moves up from below the roundedsurface of the tube acts as a cam surface to press back the latch whichsnaps into the slot to assume the position shown shown in Fig. 5.

When the chair is in the unfolded or set up position of Fig. 1 it may becollapsed to the more compact arrangement of the parts shown in Fig. 4in the following manner. The nose 58 of latch 56 is released from slot60 of the crossbar 52 of the arm supporting yoke and the rear legsarelifted from the floor, conveniently by pressing downwardly andoutwardly on the forward edge of the seat to tilt the rear edgeupwardly. The slight movement of the rear legs under gravity issuflicient to move slot 60 away from the position of opposition to thenose 58 of the latch. The back 16 is grasped by the other hand inopposition to that which is holding the front edge of the seat and swungdownwardly to the position as seen in Fig. 2. This will draw rearwardlythe arms 18 and rock the arm supports 22 on their pivots 26 so that thecrossbar 52 connecting these supports moves away from the bottom of theseat and from the rear legs, permitting the latter to swing by gravitydownward and forward to the position of Fig. 3. As the downward pivotingmovement of the back is continued the crossbar 38 connecting the armsacross the rear of the back engages the rear legs 12r and pushes theminto a position crisscross to the front legs 12 as seen in Fig. 4. Thechair will then stand by itself with the four ends of the legssupporting the parts in stable position, but. on a relatively restrictedbase and with the seat tipped up into a relatively restrictedfore-and-aft dimension, the back 16 hanging down below the seat 18behind the rear legs, and the tray 20 also disposed behind the rear sideof the seat in a more or less upstanding position. The over-all depth ofthe chair is much reduced as compared with the set up position butnevertheless the chair will stand by itself against the wall or in anout-of-the-way corner without danger of falling down.

To move the parts from the folded position of Fig. 4 to the original setup position of Fig. 1 the front edge of the seat and the lower edgeviewing Fig. 4 of the back 16, are grasped and in a single motion theback is drawn back into the upright position. In the course of thismovement the crossbar S2 of the arm supports engages therear legs 12pushes them to the rear, and moves upwardly along them until it entersthe downwardly opening throats of the hooks 54. This movement stops whenthe legs have been forced into their normal unfolded position and yokesides 32r engage the seat bottom. At the end of this motion the crossbar52 has engaged the nose 58 of the latch which snaps into the keeper slot60 in the former, thus locking the chair in the unfolded position.

The hooks 54 on the rear legs prevent accidental unfolding. Theseprevent the arm supports 22 from pivoting about pivots 26 while the rearlegs are on the floor in the normal erected position. Even if the latch56 is released the folding action cannot commence. It is necessary forthe folding action both to release the latch 56 and to lift the rearlegs from the floor. There is no: possibility of the chair folding withthe baby in it if the latch is accidentally operated.

When the chair is in the unfolded position and the latch engaged thechair can be moved or lifted with no possibility of folding action.

Since the yoke forming the front legs has been described as identicalwith the yoke forming the rear legs and since the right-hand legs are ina single plane and the left-hand legs in another, it might be thoughtthat in folding the legs would interfere and not pass one another asdescribed. However as center 30 moves up the flared portion forming therear legs proper is lowered relative to the flared portion forming thefront legs proper and a narrower span between the former is presented toa relatively wider span of the latter and therefore the rear legs canpass between the front legs to the position shown in Fig. 4.

The arms 18 and arm supports 22 are organized laterally outward of theareas of seat 10 and back 16 so that there is no obstruction to thedesired movements of the arts. P It will be noted that except for thepressing back of the latch in the collapsing movement, the hands grasponly the smooth surfaces of the top of the back 16 and the forwardportion of seat 10. There are no folding struts which must be moved overdead center to release them and pushed back beyond dead center when theparts are erected, with a fair possibility of pinching the fingers. Thechair does not have to be picked up and positioned bodily for eitheropening or collapsing. It may be simply shoved along the floor to anout-of-the-way position and pulled out again for erection.

As will be apparent from Fig. 4, the mechanical arrangement of partsherein described may be contoured to a pleasing design characterizedparticularly by the sturdy looking bow which provides the arms and thearm supports gracefully swept backwardly and rounded ofi at a littlebelow the seat. This esthetic effect is attained consistently with theprovision for folding which has been described and is herein claimed.

I am aware that the invention may be embodied in other specific formswithout departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and Itherefore desire the present embodiment to be considered in all respectsas illustrative and not restrictive, as is in fact clear in severalmatters from the description itself. Reference is to be had to theappended claims to indicate those principles of the inventionexemplified by the particular embodiment described and which I desire tosecure by Letters Patent.

1. A folding chair comprising a normally horizontal seat, a pair offront legs secured adjacent the forward edge thereof in fixed angularrelation thereto, a pair of rear legs having inturned arms underridingthe seat and pivoted thereto adjacent their extremities along atransverse axis remote from the back edge of the seat, releasable meansfor latching the seat and rear legs together, the rear legs on releasebeing movable into crossing relation to the front legs to provide astable support of relatively restricted fore-and-aft dimension with saidaxis elevated to dispose the seat tilted up within a relativ lyrestricted fore-and-aft dimension.

2. A folding chair comprising a normally horizontal seat, a pair offront legs secured adjacent the forward edge thereof in fixed angularrelation thereto, a pair of rear legs having inturned arms underridingthe seat andpivoted thereto adjacent their extremities alongatransverseaxis remote from the back edge of the seat, a back pivotally mounted atthe rear edge of the seat for downward folding movemenc, and releasablemeans as sociated with the back for latching the seat and rear legstogether, the rear legs on release being movable into crossing relationto the front legs to provide a stable support of relatively restrictedfore-and-aft dimension.

3. A folding chair comprising a normally horizontal seat, a pair offront legs fixedly secured adjacent the forward edge thereof, a pair ofrear legs having inturned arms underriding the seat and pivoted theretoadjacent their extremities along a transverse axis remote from the backedge of the seat, a back pivoted at the rear edge of the seat fordownward folding movement and releasable means associated with the backfor latching the seat and rear legs together, said back being of suchdimension that when folded down after release it will engage the rearlegs at points remote from their axis to swing them about such axis intocrossing relation to the front legs to provide a stable support ofrelatively restricted fore-and-aft dimension with said axis elevated todispose the seat tilted up within a relatively restricted fore-and-aftdimension.

4. A folding chair comprising a normally horizontal seat, a pair offront legs fixedly secured adjacent the forward edge thereof, a pair ofrear legs having inturned arms underriding the seat and pivoted theretoadjacent their extremities along a transverse axis remote from the backedge of the seat, a back pivoted at the rear edge of the seat forrearward and downward folding movement, arms pivoted to the back, armsupports pivoted to the ends of the arms and at the sides of the seatand extended rearwardly from the latter and there connected by acrossbar, an abutment on the rear legs with which the crossbar engagesin the erected position of the chair and releasable means for latchingtogether said crossbar and the back at the rear side of the seat to lockthe rear legs against movement about their axis and to lock the arms andarm supports against movement about the pivots on the ends of the arms.

5. A chair comprising a seat and a ground-engaging support therefor, aback pivoted at the rear edge of the same for backward and downwardswinging movement, arms pivoted to the back and disposed in planeslateral to the seat, arm supports pivoted to the ends of the arms andthe sides of the seat, said supports having rearward extension below thelevel of the seat, abutments beneath the seat to be engaged by theextensions and to support the arms and releasable means associated withthe back to retain them against the abutments to lock the arms andsupports against movement about their pivot connections.

6. A chair as set forth in claim 5 wherein the extensions are joined bya crossbar beneath the seat and the abutments are provided by hooks withdownwardly presented throats in which the crossbar is received.

7. A chair as set forth in claim 5 wherein the arms are the sides of ayoke having a crossbar extending behind the back and journalled toprovide for the pivoting of d the arms.

8. A chair comprising a seat and a ground-engaging support therefor, aback having knuckles at its lower portion, cooperating knuckles adjacentthe rear edge, a pintle through the knuckles providing for pivotalmovement of the back, there. being a space between the knuckles, a latchfor holding the parts against pivoting, said latch being journalled onthe pintle between the knuckles having a locking nose and afinger-engaging portion providing for manually manipulating the latch,the chair structure including a keeper portion with which the noseengages when the back is in erect position and a spring acting on thelatch for holding the nose in such engagement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

